Rural commissioners elected to executive board of UAC

CEDAR CITY – Commissioners in Iron and Beaver counties are hopeful rural Utah will have a stronger voice this year with Mark Whitney and Dave Miller having been elected to the Utah Association of Counties executive board.

Elected as the second vice president, Whitney, who is serving his third term as Beaver County Commissioner, will serve in 2015 and then the following year step into the role of first vice president.

In 2017, his position will change again, this time as president of UAC's executive board.

"I was very humbled that all of the elected leaders in my county supported me and were willing to make phone calls and send out emails on my behalf," Whitney said.

Whitney(Photo: beaver.utah.gov)

Miller, representing Iron County, was elected as secretary of the executive committee for 2015.

While Whitney said he campaigned for his position on the board, Miller said he didn't do much campaigning but was instead nominated and later elected.

"I was nominated and was glad to serve but I didn't really do any campaigning. I made a few phone calls but that was it," he said.

By helping to direct UAC's priorities, the new roles place the commissioners in a stronger position to represent the unique issues facing rural counties and to influence legislation Miller said.

Whitney's goals are to try and work with counties on the Wasatch Front.

The way to begin to do this, he said, is to educate the elected leaders from those areas and in turn help them to understand the differences between rural and urban areas.

"Bottom line, there are many issues facing Utah, not just urban and not just rural," Whitney said. "It doesn't matter whether it's transportation and taxing issues in Salt Lake County or public lands issues in Kane County, we have to be able to collaborate and work together."

Some of the issues confronting the more southern part of the state, Miller said, include road maintenance, transportation, public lands, the economy and the relocation of the Utah State Prison.

"There are critical issues facing rural communities and we need to make sure the urban areas understand these issues and what we're up against regarding these issues, especially those surrounding public lands," Miller said.

Concerned that the state is too eager to build a new and larger prison facility before using the resources already available, Miller plans to make himself part of the discussion in regards to how it affects the rural counties.

"I also want to make sure rural Utah is heard on the prison issue. Rural Utah has invested a lot of money into getting their jails to where we can handle state and federal inmates and we need to make sure these jails are full first and all space has been accounted for before we make another huge investment in relocating the prison," Miller said.

Other responsibilities Miller and Whitney will oversee include helping to finalize all of UAC's appropriations.

Whitney and Miller both said they are looking forward to working side by side and believe together they can accomplish "great things."